PROPERTY IS NO LONGER A THEFT

Elio Petri,
Italy,
1973, Arrow Films

Perhaps because it's just so utterly weird, PROPERTY IS NO LONGER A THEFT has never earned a English-language theatrical release anywhere -- until now.

A young bank clerk (Flavio Bucci, SUSPIRIA) is denied a loan by his employer, and so decides to exact his revenge upon the local butcher (Ugo Tognazzi, LA GRANDE BOUFFE.) The butcher’s not only a nasty, violent piece of work, but also the bank’s star customer. Quitting his job, the clerk devotes all of his time to tormenting the butcher, stealing his possessions one-by-one -- including his mistress (Daria Nicolodi, DEEP RED).

“Safe to say there’s no Italian director like Elio Petri, a master of twisting viewer’s brains into pretzels with surreal satires like THE 10TH VICTIM, the Oscar-winning INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION and his full-blooded horror excursion A QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY. PROPERTY is a dark, challenging, and amusing take on modern materialism with strong draws for Eurocult fans, including an outstanding Morricone score. Everyone operates at full throttle here, but the real wild card is Nicolodi: a then-newcomer who’d go on to immortality in Dario Argento’s films. She’s a smoldering revelation here, sporting blood-red lipstick and commanding the screen like a pro even during one of the creepiest nude scenes ever committed to celluloid.” (Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital)